52 
NATURE 
[Marcu II, 1915 

“Until the usefulness of such a bureau is fully 
established, we can perhaps scarcely expect much help 
from Government, for it has plenty to do with the 
public revenues, but I am quite sure they would view 
any endeavour to educate the masses with a sym- 
pathetic eye.” 
After the presidential address it was decided to hold 
the 1916 meeting in Allahabad, and Dr. W. N. F. 
Woodland was appointed the local hon. secretary. 
In the Agriculture and Applied Science Section Dr. 
H. H. Mann, of Poona, presided, and his address 
dealt with ‘*The Lines of Development of Indian 
Agriculture.” 
Agriculture in India, he said, is of two kinds. On 
one hand you have an extensive agriculture, conducted 
without much capital, with primitive implements and 
methods, and yielding poor results when compared 
with any Western standard. On the other, you have 
a number of comparatively small, but highly organised 
industries, conducted largely by planters, growing 
special valuable crops, with adequate capital, and 
yielding exceedingly high returns. 
It is not generally realised how unsatisfactory 
the results of the average Indian agriculture really 
are. We have no census of production in India as 
yet, and really satisfactory figures are not possible. 
But in a few cases it is possible to give figures which 
make us realise the position. In wheat production, 
for instance, the yield per acre is certainly not more 
than ten bushels per acre, and is probably nearer 
eight, or one-third of what might be considered as a 
good crop; more especially in this case where so much 
of the land devoted to it is irrigated and hence not 
dependent on a very variable rainfall. In the case of 
cotton, the figure is equally striking, and in this case 
the area and production are very fairly well known. 
From twenty-two million acres, the produce runs to 
above four million bales, or about 75 lb. of lint per acre, 
while in America, with an equally uncertain rainfall, 
the production reaches 200 lb. per acre. Again, if we 
take an intensive crop grown very largely under 
irrigation, like sugar-cane, the yield works out at 
under one ton of raw sugar per acre, as against a 
world’s average of about two tons at least. In this 
case the average in India is very much lowered by 
the miserable outturn from Northern India, and the 
crop in Bombay and Madras is fairly up to the world’s 
average. These figures are so striking that a new- 
comer to the subject is apt to think that improvement 
is easy, and that the raising of the standard of this 
cultivation towards that reached elsewhere is not very 
difficult. ; 
This, however, is not the case. In no country per- 
haps is progress more difficult. One is hindered at 
every point by unexpected difficulties. The lack of 
anything more than a minimum of capital has been 
often considered as the most outstanding of these 
hindrances, and it is very important, though not the 
only one. The very great conservatism of the Indian 
cultivators has often, also, been mentioned. In this 
matter, it may be stated very emphatically that Indian 
cultivators are not more conservative than their 
situation demands. When a man is working on 
a minimum of capital, when any excess capital costs 
probably from 12 per cent. upwards for interest, when 
the money is turned over only once or at most twice 
in a year, it is the only policy to be extremely con- 
servative. 
Three methods of investigation seem important with 
a view of improving matters. One of these is the 
study of soil physics. It seems very important here, 
especially as several of our types of soil are peculiar, 
that the methods of increasing their absorbing and 
retaining capacity for water under our conditions re- 
NO. 2367, VOL. 95] 
| gecko and on the zoanthids of Madras. 

quired very careful investigation. A second investiga- 
tion, that of implements, is one which is very much 
needed. A third method, to increase the utility of the 
water which actually falls in our drier tracts, is the 
development of drought-resisting varieties of plants. 
Mr. F. M. Howlett, in his paper, termed ‘* Chemical 
Entomology,” stated that insects are usually easy to 
influence by one sense, and one alone. In the case 
of one small fly a small trace of isovaleric aldehyde 
will bring many thousands of them to a place in a 
short time, though none were present before. Among 
the fruit-flies, the maggots of which are found in 
many fruits, the scent is so well developed and so 
distinct that each species seems to be attracted by a 
different smell. 
Dr. Coleman, of Bangalore, read two papers on 
the black rot of coffee, and the ‘*koleroga”’ disease 
of the areca palm. He thinks that it is likely that by 
treatment with Bordeaux mixture black rot of coffee 
can be checked. The second paper, on the areca palm 
disease, told the story of One of the very Few success- 
ful campaigns in India against a destructive disease 
of the betel nut, which threatened the industry in some 
districts of Mysore. 
In the Physics Section, the contributions of the 
chairman, Mr. C. V. Raman, on the velocity of resti- 
tutions after impact between various elastic materials 
and his speculations as to the type of air disturbance 
involved in the click of two billiard balls, aroused a 
good deal of interest. Among other papers were :— 
Dr. D. N. Mallik, on a type of electric discharge in 
the neighbourhood of a permanent magnetic pole; Dr. 
Royds, on spectrum series; Mr. C. Michie Smith, on 
the climate of Kodaikanal; Mr. S. Appaswami, the 
Madras Physics Department, the motion of violin 
strings; Mr. J. Evershed, of the Kodaikanal Observa- 
tory, on sun-spots and prominences. In all twelve 
papers were read and discussed. 
In the Chemical Section Dr. P. C. Ray, of Cal- 
cutta, presided, and fourteen papers were communi- 
cated. The chairman opened the proceedings by 
giving a brief account of his recent work on the use 
of nitrites and chloroacetic acid in causing tautomerisa- 
tion in certain thio-derivatives, and in a further paper 
discussed the action of alkyl iodides on dimercuri- 
ammonium nitrite. Prof. J. J. Sudborough dealt with 
alcoholysis, and also gave an account of work which 
he was carrying on with his students on the replace- 
ment of sulphonic acid groups in aromatic compounds 
during halogenation. Prof. Neogi and Mr. Chowhari 
described their experiments on the conversion of 
aliphatic nitrites into nitro-compounds. Prof. Joseph, 
of Colombo, gave an account of his and Mr. W. N. 
Rae’s work on chromium phosphate. Profs. Gibson 
and Simonsen communicated two papers on stereo- 
chemical problems, in one of which the resolution of 
f£-naphthotetrahydroquinaldine was described. 
The Section of Zoology was presided over by Dr. 
N. Annandale, of the Indian Museum. The two most 
important papers before the meeting were those on the 
autotomy and regeneration of the tail in the house- 
They were 
by Prof. W. N. F. Woodland, of Allahabad, and Prof. 
IX. Ramunni Menon, of Madras, respectively. 
Dr. C. A. Barber, of Coimbatore, the chairman of 
the Botany Section, in his opening address, took 
sugar and the sugar-cane as his subject. The history 
of the industry in Java was studied in detail as show- 
ing a fine example of the application of scientific 
work to sugar-cane problems. The question whether 
India (which now imports nearly a million tons each 
year) could hope to become an exporting country was 
answered in the negative. It was shown that India 
was a quarter of a century behind Java, and was, in 
